Haiti: UN mission and local police arrest four men at heart of kidnapping gang

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti and the country's police force say they have dismantled an important criminal gang wanted for several recent kidnappings and murders after arresting four men yesterday morning.

Working with the Haitian National Police, officers with the mission (known as MINUSTAH) arrested the suspects in a joint raid in two districts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, according to a press statement issued yesterday.

The four men are accused of forming the heart of a gang known as Chochonet, which is being investigated for several recent kidnappings and killings.

MINUSTAH, which said the arrests were carried out without incident, thanked the local population for providing the information that led to the arrests.

The mission reiterated its call for Haitians to cooperate with its troops and with members of the national police to combat persistently high levels of crime, particularly kidnappings, across the Caribbean country.